PCB pool budget healthier than last year // VIDEO

Published: Sunday, September 8, 2013 at 05:00 PM.

The pool, which opened in 2006, also garnered additional revenue from swim team use, increasing fees from local and visiting teams by about $23,000.

“Between Pensacola and Tallahassee, we’re about the finest pool around,” said Aquatic Center Director Will Spivey. “We tend to attract a healthy crowd for our high school swimming events.”

On the down side, combined revenues from daily entry fees and 20-visit passes dropped from $156,000 last year to $120,000.

“We had a tough summer with the weather, as a lot of (outdoor) businesses did on the beach,” Spivey said. “The rain cramped our style a bit with daily admissions and things of that nature.”

However, Spivey said admissions rebounded when the rain cleared in August and were higher than estimated.

Revenues from membership passes also saw a significant decline, dropping from $45,000 to $29,500. Spivey said he believes they sold more membership passes last year through participation in an online Groupon deal.

To draw additional revenue in the coming year, the Panama City Beach Council voted in favor of increasing pool membership fees across the board at a recent meeting.

Although revenues from pool admissions decreased during the 2012-2013 fiscal year due to inclement weather, expenses were also down by 9 percent.

“The revenues that were down were strictly because of the rain,” Gisbert said. “With the overall changes that we made, we basically got $50,000 of benefit.”

Gisbert said reducing the pool hours during the off season saved about $32,000 in power, chemical and workforce costs, and the city intends to once again reduce the hours beginning in November.

The pool, which opened in 2006, also garnered additional revenue from swim team use, increasing fees from local and visiting teams by about $23,000.

“Between Pensacola and Tallahassee, we’re about the finest pool around,” said Aquatic Center Director Will Spivey. “We tend to attract a healthy crowd for our high school swimming events.”

On the down side, combined revenues from daily entry fees and 20-visit passes dropped from $156,000 last year to $120,000.

“We had a tough summer with the weather, as a lot of (outdoor) businesses did on the beach,” Spivey said. “The rain cramped our style a bit with daily admissions and things of that nature.”

However, Spivey said admissions rebounded when the rain cleared in August and were higher than estimated.

Revenues from membership passes also saw a significant decline, dropping from $45,000 to $29,500. Spivey said he believes they sold more membership passes last year through participation in an online Groupon deal.

To draw additional revenue in the coming year, the Panama City Beach Council voted in favor of increasing pool membership fees across the board at a recent meeting.

Family passes will increase from $270 to $350 per year and individual passes would rise from $135 to $225, with an increase from $75 to $150 for students and military. For seasonal swimmers, the cost of a 20-visit punch card will increase from $65 to $85.
Daily rates will remain the same: $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $5 for children.

“We just needed to tighten our belts a little bit in some places; we made a 10 percent change this year, and that’s noticeable,” Gisbert said. “If we could make a 10 percent change for a few years, it could get us to a point where we could handle the cost to maintain and run the pool.”